Is my dwarf puffer too skinny?

[Seedy J]

New tank, 10g, 2 dwarf puffers and some shrimp, live plants. Fish and shrimp were added almost 3 weeks ago. Tank was cycled before adding fish, water parameters are all good (0 ammonia, nitrite, nitrate).

One of the puffers has a fat belly and the other looks a bit thin... is it a problem? I feed them frozen bloodworms and Hikari Vibra Bites. The puffers show interest in the bloodworms and pick at them sometimes. Something is eating them (they're always gone by the next day). Nobody seems interested in the Vibra Bites. I've also seen the puffers picking at the cottony stuff on the spider wood (which I'm working on getting rid of).

 

[Chicxulub]

Fat Homer

 

[tlindsey]

You should have nitrate atleast 5 ppm. Do you shake the bottles well.

 

[kno4te]

Both don’t look too bad yet. Would soak the bloodworms in some vitachem. Then feed to the puffers. See what fat homer advises.

 

[Seedy J]

You should have nitrate atleast 5 ppm. Do you shake the bottles well.

I shake the bottles lightly but don't go too crazy with it. The test (API freshwater test) showed nitrates at the end of the cycle (before I did a water change). I've always thought it was strange that my tanks don't seem to generate nitrates... too good to be true.

 

[Seedy J]

Sorry I should've clarified... Both pics above are of the skinny puffer. Here's the fat one, pretty sure he/she is doing ok.

 

[Kittiee Katt]

I shake the bottles lightly but don't go too crazy with it. (API freshwater test)

You have to really shake the crap out of the bottles, especially the second one (I think, haven't used a kit in over 6 months now). Its a pain in the arm but shake the living crap out of it.

 

[Fat Homer]

Seedy J The skinny one still looks absolutely fine from what i can see...

However, if you only have 2 puffers in there, i’d be more worried about the dominant one harassing the other till it stopped eating or possibly killed it, especially if you ended up with 2 males (since they can be territorial)...

The only problem i see left is if that you cant really add a 3rd puffer without possibly causing problems (since its only a 10G)...

So my only advise left would be to:

A) keep an eye out for any constant chasing from the dominant puffer

Or

B) seperate the less dominant one to its own tank if he stops eating or really starts to waste away due to not being to able to get enough food...

Or

C) spot feed each puffer individially making sure the less dominant one eats every meal without harassment...

I’ll even throw in an extra option which you may not want to opt for; that is get a 15-20G tank, plant it, then house 3 puffers together instead of 2 in a 10G

 

[Seedy J]

I don't know how I missed this post - thanks for the info Fat Homer ! Well it's been a few weeks and they seem to be doing fine - I even saw the skinny one take a big poop (for a dwarf puffer, anyway) so it's obviously eating something.

Aggression doesn't seem too bad... the dominant one chases the skinny one sometimes, but it's not constant. There are lots of hiding spots so the chases don't usually last long. Nonetheless, I'll keep an eye on them.

 

[Fat Homer]

I don't know how I missed this post - thanks for the info Fat Homer ! Well it's been a few weeks and they seem to be doing fine - I even saw the skinny one take a big poop (for a dwarf puffer, anyway) so it's obviously eating something.

Aggression doesn't seem too bad... the dominant one chases the skinny one sometimes, but it's not constant. There are lots of hiding spots so the chases don't usually last long. Nonetheless, I'll keep an eye on them.

As long as there are enough hiding spots you might be able to get away with it, so as you said, just keep an eye on it and you should be all good...